How To Reduce Background Noise In A Recording On Windows 10

Studio recording takes a lot of equipment. On top of all that, you need a room with good acoustics and no noisy neighbors. If you’re not looking for studio quiet, but just something that doesn’t sound terrible, you can get that at home. The bit of noise that you do record can be reduced or eliminated with software. Here’s how you can reduce background noise in a recording on Windows 10.

There are great paid apps that can do this but for our purpose, we’re going with a free and exceptionally popular app called Audacity that can do a lot of things, such as record speaker output, and reduce background noise. If you’ve already bought an app for editing sound files, check to see if it has a noise reduction feature and you can compare the results.

Reduce Background Noise

This works best if your recording has a bit of quiet in it at some point. By quiet, we mean there’s no voice. The noise will be there regardless if you’re speaking or not.

Download Audacity, install, and run it. Add the voice file to the app. The wave pattern will show you which parts are quiet. Use your mouse and click and drag over a quiet part to select it.

RECOMMENDED FOR YOU

Go to Effects>Noise Reduction. In the window that opens, click Get Noise Profile, and then click Ok.

Next, select the part of the sound file that has the voice over. Repeat the same process as above; go to Effects>Noise Reduction and again, click Get Noise Profile. You can change the noise reduction level if you want, as well as play with the other two settings. Once you’re done, click Ok. The file’s wave pattern will change after the noise has been reduced. Play it and you will notice an obvious difference.

Once you’re satisfied with the result, go to File>Export and select a format to export it to.

You may want an app that does everything from video editing to sound editing but an app like that would be too resource hungry, not to mention ridiculously complex to learn and use. Audacity is one of the most popular audio editing apps in the market and it’s free. The price tag isn’t the best reason to use it though; it’s a capable app that’s been around for years.

If your sound file is too quiet after the noise reduction, you can check out the Amplify effect that Audacity has to make it louder. The noise will not be amplified, of course. Your preferred audio or video editor might have a similar setting. Check which gives you the best results.